The Vanguard of Heroes
The Vanguard of Heroes are a ragtag team of six warriors, battling against insurmountable odds to reclaim the Kingdom of Esennia. A group of unlike people made companions by circumstance, they travel through several individual Kingdoms, training and seeking diplomacy and alliance. Lady Hinfa The team's leader and the former heir to the Esennian throne, Hinfa is the driving force that holds the team together. Something of a berserker on the battlefield, she becomes more and more brutal as she inches closer and closer to death. Physical Appearance Hinfa is a tall, regal figure with a pale complexion and a thin, twig-like body structure. Her outfit is predominantly a spring green, with a texture like freshly fallen leaves. Long, slender forest-green boots cover her legs up to her knees, and gloves of similar make trail up to her elbows. Her cape, flaring out to form several angular points, is of the same color, with bright yellow trimming on its inside. Her glowing orange eyes are focused, determined, with a surpressed hatred illuminating them. She is often seen wearing a small forest-green masquerade mask, that calls attention to her face. She has a tendency to cast this accessory aside before fighting. Weapons/Abilities Hinfa is the wielder of the Leaf Blade, a weapon that used to belong to one of Esennia's finest knights. A razor-sharp blade with an edge as thin as a leaf, it carries multiple plantlike properties, such as requiring liquid for sustenance. Often times, and especially when water cannot be spared, Hinfa keeps the blade nourished with her own blood, slashing her left palm open and letting it run freely onto the weapon. She fights in a very self-sacrificial, conniving manner with this weapon, and will gladly get one wound herself if it means two on her foe. She is known to fake being severely injured as a gambit, and then attack her opponents savagely once they drop their guard. Hinfa also carries a small collection of Seeds of Malice, which are carried in a pocket carefully concealed on the inside of her cape. These are scattered on the ground, and then burst open into fields of vines, covering the ground and any enemies that happen to be nearby. Like the Leaf Blade, they require fluid for activation, and also like the Leaf Blade, Hinfa will often expend her own blood to do so in the heat of combat. A foe covered in vines will not only have a harder time getting around, but their strength will be slowly sapped from them and transferred to Hinfa—the primary ability that lets her water her plants with her own blood. Personality Hinfa is not anything like one would expect typical royalty to behave. She is less concerned with reclaiming her Kingdom, and more concerned with making the tyrant who took control of it pay for his crimes, no matter the cost. She has a tendency towards the sadistic, often going into vivid detail about exactly how she plans to torment her foes before finishing them off. She can put on a pleasant face to attempt diplomacy, but she always considers her highest credential her combat ability. Despite the sugarcoating, Hinfa is resemblent to a bloodthirsty savage. Ora A born warrior in a Kingdom where strength meant fame, Ora acts as one key warrior in the Vanguard. Known for his discipline as well as his power, he always keeps a level head. Physical Appearance Ora is a muscular figure, with white skin turned bronze by many days under the Sun. His shirt—form-fitting yet breathable, specifically designed for martial arts—is a faded yellow. His pants are of a similar design, only taking on a faded blue color, with a few grass stains from tumbles on the ground. He wears no shoes, but keeps a black headband tied around his forehead to keep his spiked deep blue hair from obscuring the vision of his focused red eyes. Weapons/Abilities Ora, though trained in martial arts, fights little like a martial artist. Lacking in discipline, he rapidly breaks and switches his stances in order to avoid contact, as he cannot take a hit very well, and uses more underhanded tactics like kicking sand up into his opponent's eyes, and an array of sneaky counterattacks. His one notable skill is being able to take a breather, patching up his cuts, scratches, and other assorted minor injuries even in the middle of a fight. Personality Outwardly, Ora appears cold, brooding, and indifferent, but this is a facade put on by weariness. He has met many people who attempted to backstab him, and he now chooses his friends very carefully. However, once he considers you a friend, he would follow you, by loyalty or by honor, to the grave. This makes Ora an excellent friend and a dangerous foe. Sludgeon A lower-class, downtrodden citizen that once lived in the underbelly of a kingdom famous for its aquaducts, Sludgeon specializes in poisons and assassinations. Some horrifying mutations have warped her body, making her naturally produce deadly toxins. Physical Appearance Sludgeon is a young, pale woman with large green eyes, dressed in little more than rags. Her hair, a dark, sooty brown, is matted and clumped together. A miserable-looking purplish slime streams down her body in waves, coming from several points on her body. Her right hand has shriveled over time to the point of near-lifelessness, while her left hand has grown far stronger—which earned her the name "Sludgeon," as she became renowned for her fisticuffs even with only one hand. The only part of her body not mutated in some way are her legs, and she displays her unclean bare feet in some twisted form of pride. Weapons/Abilities Sludgeon's mode of combat relies primarily on the purplish ooze that her body continually perspirates. It has many uses, the first of which is as a poison. Sometimes, she coats knives with the substance and uses it for a quick assassination, but often times, this is not an option for her, as Sludgeon is not exactly stealthy. Often times, she swings with her bare left hand to send waves of the stuff at her foe, attempting to poison them through their very skin. Her poison often leaves a foe partially incapacitated, resulting in anything from minor pain to slowed heartbeat to temporary amnesia. Generally, Sludgeon's poison cannot kill on its own, unless generous amounts of it are applied. The substance is also highly flammable, and thus Sludgeon has been seen setting her own hand on fire and punching at the foe. Personality Sludgeon has been branded as a monster by much of society, and as such she is reclusive by nature, hiding from others and rarely speaking until prompted. If available, the group will give her cloaks in which she can hide her true appearance, but she has a tendency to destroy these in the heat of combat. She is highly grateful to the Vanguard for seeing worth in her and taking her in, and would gladly defend any of them with her life, even more fiercely than she would defend herself. As she perceives it, her only sense of worth comes from servitude, and the Vanguard are the only who would let her serve them. Tuasuhaa An undead empress from an era when Essenia was young, Tuasuhaa is a restless spirit who joined the Vanguard in hopes she could sate her bloodlust. She uses her ancient powers to curse foes, snaring them in traps and then destroying them in her own insidious ways. Physical Appearance Tuasuhaa was once a tall, regal figure, viewed as the epitome of beauty in her society, but since then she has been completely mummified. Covered from head to toe in bandages, only parts of her gray decaying hair and her glowing red eyes can be seen. The bandages are only loose enough to allow movement, and are rather form-fitting, putting an emphasis on her body structure, particularly her surprisingly skinny arms and her thin waistline. In clearer lights, four shadowy tendril-like appendages, with large hands on the end of each, can be seen protruding from her back. Weapons/Abilities Tuasuhaa fights primarily through dark magicks, considered the most brutal member on the team after Hinfa herself. She is known to use curious black winds that choke foes, hex foes to lock them in place, and burn them using shadowy flames. The four tendrils protruding from her back can be used to swat opponents away if they get too close for comfort, but their true strength shows when she approaches a hexed foe—grabbing them with the tendrils, she rips them limb from limb on the spot, spilling the resulting shower of blood over herself. Personality Being from a time when New Kingdoms were still a fledgeling concept, Tuasuhaa is less accustomed to the ideals of kindness and mercy as the rest of the party. Her ghostly form keeps her thirsty for blood, making her prey regularly on the innocent, which she has no problem with at the time. Most of the Vanguard—save Ora, who does not fear her—leaves her to go about her business as she pleases. As such, she regularly grips with herself, on her own loneliness and whose morals are truly correct. Skalor A curious birdman claiming to be from the sky above, Skalor considers himself a father figure for most of the Vanguard. He is a scout for the party, using his unique ability to fly ahead and seek out danger before coming back to the party. Physical Appearance Skalor is a tall and lanky fellow, with dark tanned skin, bright blue eyes, and exceedingly bright platinum blonde hair. He wears a mud-stained white robe with a single crimson belt as decoration, which depicts an eagle spreading its wings. Atop his head sits a bright pinkish-red headdress, mostly ceremonial, with two long points arcing up, then down his back. In the back of his robe are two large holes, cut to make unfurling his gray feathery wings easy. His arms and legs seem to contour, eventually ending in talon-like bird's claws. Weapons/Abilities Being a birdman, Skalor's most useful ability is the power of flight, which he uses to scout out the field ahead, and often in the heat of combat, he will take to the skies and dive-bomb on an opponent when they least expect it. He seems to be a keen, reserved fighter, using talon-like claws at close range, but using a sharp eye to dodge incoming enemy attacks. He sometimes uses his wings on the ground to send his opponent flying back in a powerful gust of wind. Personality Unlike much of the group, who suffers from incredible anger issues or self-deprication, Skalor is calm and level-headed. He stares down even the most difficult of tasks with a stoic face, and normally is the character to have an attack plan. He has a tendency to be righteous and even overbearing, considering himself responsible for the rest of the party despite being one of its younger members, yet this responsibility has proven to steer the group clear of trouble many times before. The Spark A vigilante superhero with a burning sense of justice as well as a flamboyance about him, The Spark begins as a rival to the Vanguard before eventually joining their cause. In combat, he is always in a charge, ready to fight quickly, and sometimes cleaning up before anyone else gets a swing in. Physical Appearance The Spark is a curious-looking man in a bright yellow suit, adorned with several stripes of black and white. His gloves and boots are purely black, each of them bearing a small red orb—shiny and appearing to be made of glass, they appear to serve no purpose beyond decoration. His helmet, matching his suit in color, has an extended visor concealing much of his face, in addition to the helmet hiding his blonde hair. Without this gear, The Spark would look like an average human being, of no exceptional physical strength. Weapons/Abilities The Spark wields the power of electricity, mostly in non-specific blasts. He is known to use rapid hand motions in order to generate electric balls, which he hurls at his opponent. He appears to store charge like a battery, meaning he starts a fight fiercely, then slowly wears down on his power as the fight drags on. If his electric powers fail him, he has only a single sort of open-palm unarmed combat to rely on, mostly designed to knock unruly evildoers out. Personality The Spark is excessively flamboyant, as indicated by his costume. Considering himself a "full-time superhero," he never takes off his costume, insists on being called The Spark at all times, and is prone to utter platitudes about how "justice never rests." He takes responsibility for everyone's safety, including the Vanguard's, and is prone to throwing ballistic fits whenever one of his companions gets themselves hurt, hopefully resulting in the swift and painful destruction of those who hurt them. Backstory Feudalism never died, but the idealisms behind it changed significantly. Some Kingdoms, referred to as "Old Kingdoms," clung to the ideas of extorting citizens in exchange for protection, but others—"New Kingdoms"—established a more benevolent rule, in which the agreement was slanted towards the peasants. Taxes were collected in resources, and in exchange, royalty shared its lavish wealth and technology with them. Defense, handled by the royal family themselves and the volunteer Knights' Service, were to be expected. It was a happier society—people in New Kingdoms were often happier and more productive. The Kingdom of Esennia, heavily in touch with nature, was one of such New Kingdoms, ruled peacefully by a Lord and Lady. Hinfa, the only daughter of the royal figures, was set to be next in line, and was absolutely ecstatic to lead. She couldn't wait to lead people charging into battle to keep her people safe...she spent day after day daydreaming about gallantly riding into battle on a horse, winning fictional battle after fictional battle in her head. That dream was shattered in a single night. When Hinfa was twelve, a group of envoys from the Kingdom of Stacia, an Old Kingdom situated in the frozen North, infiltrated the Esennian Castle and slaughtered its people in cold blood. Lord Cryose himself was there to engage Hinfa's parents, and killed them both, sealing the bloody coup d'état. In a panic, Hinfa frantically gathered her belongings and fled, taking a Leaf Blade from a dismembered guard outside to defend herself before fleeing her own nation. She escaped to the Kingdom of Arsos, a neighboring Old Kingdom that Essennia was allied to. After some days of traveling, she grew tired, hungry, and weary, and eventually collapsed in the middle of the woods. She may have died then and there, had Ora not found her on one of his walks. Ora was always training to be a martial artist, even in this day and age, but he had never been very good at it. Though he was both quick and strong, he lacked the discipline to take a hit without flinching, and thus was widely regarded as the worst martial artist in the dojo. Children would often pretend to sympathize with him, only to pull a mean prank or steal something of his a week into their friendship, which had led him to be weary of any would-be friends. Yet Ora was not without any sense of humanity. He took the exhausted Essenian princess back to the dojo, where she was allowed to stay as she was nursed back to health. When she explained the situation, a messenger was sent to the Arsosic capital, to cease trade with Essenia at once. Meanwhile, Hinfa would be allowed to stay at the dojo until she had a more permanent residence. She never really left the dojo, but she did learn to fend for herself—using knowledge gained from training alongside, as well as against, Ora, she took to hunting in the woods for food. Hinfa was alive, but she was decidedly unhappy with her life. This wasn't the gallant depiction she had of herself in her mind! Eager to grab life by the horns, she invited Ora to accompany her on various "adventures" around the Arsos Kingdom, to which he agreed. Years passed, the twosome grew up into teenagers, and the journeys gradually became further and further away from home. Eventually, the two mustered up the courage to adventure all the way to the neighboring Old Kingdom, Aquarius, famous for its clean waters. There, they stumbled into the sewers out of childish adventurous habits, and there, in those dark, poorly sanitized tunnels, they happened upon a creature so foul and loathsome, they were surprised it had the will to live. Aquarius's clean waters came at a price—the poorest citizens were forced into water purification plants, where working conditions were less than optimal. The humanoid before them was a living example—once a lower-class citizen of Aquarius, she suffered horrible mutations during her work, and, when the Aquarian King caught word, he ordered her thrown into the sewers to fester—after all, the public couldn't know of this at any cost. There, things had only gotten worse for her. As Ora and Hinfa beheld the creature, they felt a feeling neither had experienced before: pity. When she announced she hated her name, Hinfa christened her "Sludgeon," a portmanteau of "sludge" and "bludgeon." They found themselves unwilling to leave Sludgeon there, yet Ora knew not even the sensei of the dojo would be happy to serve someone like her. Thus, they stayed on the road, and the Vanguard became an actual Vanguard. Traveling by horse-drawn wagon all across the land, they sought adventure wherever they could find it. A year or so later, it struck them in the form of a broken wheel in the desert. While Ora and Sludgeon stayed above to attempt to repair the wagon, Hinfa wandered about for some time, until she happened upon the ruins of some great temple. She went inside to find a half-buried sepulchure, and, out of morbid curiosity, she wandered about until she found the tomb. She was about to slide the casket open, when a great groaning sound accompanied the sound of it casting itself off, and Tuasuhaa burst from her burial place. Tuasuhaa's Kingdom, the name of which has been forgotten, thrived when New Kingdoms were still barely getting their bearings. Essennia was young, her Kingdom was ancient, and she felt she had nothing to fear. She herself had led an assault on the new nation in an attempt to snuff out the New Kingdom, but Essennia responded with a fierce defense, resulting in the death of most of her troops and a mortal wound on her herself. She had retreated to the temple—her Kingdom's hallowed ground—only to bleed out, yet her mummified body lay dormant in her tomb, waiting for the day when she would be reawakened to take revenge. When the first sight she saw upon awakening was a young girl in Essennian royal garments, she nearly rushed her and strangled her on the spot, but she figured she could at least get some information out of the poor girl before she killed her. When Hinfa told her her Kingdom had faded out of memory completely, Tuasuhaa's nerves calmed significantly; though she was unsatisfied, she had no reason to kill this girl. As Tuasuhaa recounted her tale to the party above, Hinfa was suddenly reminded of Lord Cryose's violent takeover of Essennia, and was filled with a desire to end that reign. Yet they were now a long way from Essennia, and an even longer way from Stacia itself; there would be some traveling to do before they could even think about fighting him. Friendly spars became more frequent along the way, and the Vanguard was beginning to learn to fight as a team as they fended off would-be bandits. As they traveled, they encountered more signs that rule under the Stacian iron fist was not only displeasing to Hinfa, but to society, as evidenced by the creature known as Skalor. Found half-frozen on the side of the road, the birdman reported he had been shot out of the sky by Stacian troops. For a while, he drifted in and out of consciousness, and his fate seemed grim, until a curious man sauntered towards the caravan—a man who called himself Doctor Gerox. Doctor Gerox was known for wandering the world in the same fashion the Vanguard had, spreading benevolence and good feelings in his wake, yet he did not seem satisfied. He seemed to be studying the world, as if learning how to use everything in it to its most effective output. No one knew quite where Gerox had come from, or why he was helping them, but the man smiled, handed them a vial of orangish liquid, and walked away. Sure enough, it was just what Skalor needed to heal his wounds—he was himself again within hours. When they stopped to rest in a village, they found it occupied by Stacian guards. Apparently, in the time away, Cryose had extended his reach further than the Vanguard had conceived. Yet, as they looked around the wintry little village, they saw a yellow-clad figure resisting the guards when possible, then fleeing when necessary. When he first saw the Vanguard, he figured they were his foe as well, and, after a quick battle, actively avoided them for some time, until a month later, they finally cornered him in a wild goose chase around the city. "The Spark" was going to join their force, whether he wanted to or not. Thus, with a party of strong-spirited warriors assembled, the Vanguard of Heroes began a journey North, to the Kingdom of Essennia. Despite the odds stacked impossibly against them—six ragtag soldiers against a horde of a military—for the first time, Hinfa felt confident she would reclaim her homeland. And if she failed, that was no problem—she would rather die with her blood staining the ground of her home than live without honor. Trivia/External Links Trivia Origin The Vanguard of Heroes were really just a group of characters that happened without explanation or context. I believe it started when I captured an Ampharos in my game of Pokemon Black 2, naming it "The Spark" by some random chance. Eventually, the rest of my Pokemon team took on names quite like original characters—A Serperior named Lady Hinfa, a Lucario named Ora, a Muk named Sludgeon, a Cofagrigus named Tuasuhaa, an Unfezant named Skalor, and, of course, The Spark, an Ampharos. One day, whilst marching around with these characters, I suddenly and spontaneously decided that these characters could be turned into their own original story. One humanization later, we got a new rendition of the plot of Pokemon Black 2, starring Lady Hinfa. I still class the bunch of them as fan characters, since the source material can still be plainly seen. Category:Male Category:Female Category:Team Dean: The One-Man Army